Treading Shallow Waters
by Curlyyo
Summary: One-shot companion to "Light this Night." Puck, Finn, and Sam struggling to get through their last few weeks in Iraq. This is their story of friendship and how far they will go to protect it.


**I think this is the angsty piece I've ever written…that didn't have anything to do with heartbreak of the romantic kind. I used creative license on Army stuff. I'm no expert- but if you are and would like to enlighten me, I would appreciate it! Additionally, I'm in the Market for a beta. Someone to keep me on my toes =P **

**This piece is a companion piece to my story, "Light This Night." I hope you enjoy it. I've always just envisioned them as best friends. The kind of best friends that movies are done about. I know, I'm sappy. **

**Sorry about the language- I've got sailor mouth and it always translates to my writing style when I'm writing from a guy perspective. Oy with the poodles already. **

**Enjoy! **

Treading Shallow Waters

"I fucking hate it here. Remind me why we decided to come here?" Sam shouldered his pack and took a long drag from his water.

"Because we didn't want Finn's scrawny chicken ass to get killed in the desert like his father." Puck groaned as he stretched his arms and tried to get comfortable in the truck. They were checking the perimeter, yet again. Something was up- not that the higher ups would ever tell grunts like them. It was balls, stuck in the desert with zero chicks in sight. But that's the price you paid for buddies like Sam and Finn.

They had promised cradle to the grave in the fourth grade. They had made it through everything. Finn's dad getting killed. Sam's family losing their house. And Puck's mom getting breast cancer. They had each other's backs through thick and thin, and they intended to keep it that way.

So when Finn showed up at Puck's door saying that he enlisted, Sam and Puck enlisted too. It was a no-brainer. Finn was trying to face his demons and his buddies were going with him, no questions asked. Besides, you can't trust strangers to do a blood brother's job. That shit was sacred.

"Do you remember when that hot ass cougar jumped my bones when we were cleaning her pool? Finn walked in and nearly had a heart attack."

"Dude, the story is almost as worn as the scenario. We lived in Lima. You molested practically every cougar Lima. I think your ass was the most viewed thing in town."

Puck laughed arrogantly. He was a stud. No two ways about it.

"Those were good times. I can't wait to get our asses out of here so I can enjoy a little bit more of it."

"Nah man. I don't want to go back Lima. At all. I want to see the world."

"Isn't the desert enough world for you, White Chocolate? Fuck man, I just want a home cooked meal from Mrs. Hudson and a week in the sack with the hottest piece of ass in town."

"Man, seriously. Shut the hell up with that shit. I'll never live it down if everyone finds out. And I'm not going to lie. The chicken enchilada mango thing she makes is incredible. I'm going to mow her lawn for a month if she gives me a few casseroles. And don't you think of anything but sex? I just want a nice girl so I can settle down and have a family of my own."

"Pussy. Don't tell me Finnessa is rubbing off on you. We were supposed to be bachelors for life. Until of course I marry, Mrs. Hudson and become Finn's _daddy_."

"Nope. I'm going to marry the best girl in town and have a shit ton of babies. And speaking of Finnessa, where is he? And you better stop saying shit like that, Finn's going to kick your ass."

"He's relieving Jones in five minutes. He was calling that fine woman he calls mom."

Sam nodded thoughtfully and blew a gust of air out harshly. It was too hot and too quiet. He couldn't stand it here. Ever since Finn had enlisted, he'd had a horrible feeling about coming here. Something was _off_. And it wasn't just the fact that everyone called him Trouty Mouth.

Puck was quiet for a minute, feeling sweat trickle down his back.

"Vegas. We could open a bar in Vegas."

"Vegas?"

"Yeah. They have Paris, New York…everywhere you could want to go in Vegas," Puck's voice trailed off wistfully. Sam looked at Puck thoughtfully for a second before nodding. The truck stopped and Jones hopped out, flipping them the bird before walking back inside the gate to get to base. They waited for Finn idly and watching the sunset. As the horizon turned violet, Puck felt a violent wave of homesickness. He wondered whether his mom was remembering to take her meds and whether his sister was still dating that dickhead from Ohio State. He missed them but they were getting on without him. Besides, he couldn't just let Sam venture into the world without him. Guppy lips might get himself killed or worse. Married.

"Vegas?" Sam tried to picture it. The bright lights and fast and loose vibe of the town would be different than what he was used to, but he had a good feeling about it.

"Vegas?" Finn's voice joined the mix as he came jogging up.

"Sorry I'm late, guys. Mom got all weepy at the end. She wants me to tell you she…loves you. I swear my mom likes you guys more."

Puck waggled his eyebrows and said, "Someday Finn Hudson, I will be your daddy."

"Shut up, man! You know that shit's not funny." Finn flushed slightly before hopping in the truck. The truck started moving and they turned their eyes to the growing darkness.

"Something doesn't feel right." Sam felt the growing unease in his stomach before he noticed the shadows near the southwest edge of the perimeter.

"Four weeks left. That's all we have to get through. Four weeks and we're home." Finn adjusted his helmet strap and motioned to the corner Sam was studying so intensely.

"Do you guys see that?"

"Shit. I have a feeling this is going to run late. And I had a poker game with Martinez," Puck groused before picking up his binoculars.

"We need to radio this in. It could be locals herding or it could be something else. We don't have anyone in that segment so it's definitely none of us." Finn nudged the driver who nodded and began talking quietly and rapidly into his two-way radio.

"Guys, this doesn't feel right. We need to wait fo-"

A violent explosion rocked the truck, throwing Finn out into the sand. White hot flames crawled up his leg as a searing pain took residence in his chest and head.

"SAMMM! PUCCKK? Fuck, fuck, fuck! Base this is Private Hudson, we need back up, immediately." Finn tried to roll over and put his leg out but agonizing pain nearly incapacitated him. Panic shot through him as he realized that the sound of gunfire was coming closer. He needed to find Puck and Sam.

Gritting his teeth, he crawled forward whispering their name loudly. The truck pinned down the driver, bleeding from his mouth and nose. His head was bent at an unnatural, ninety-degree angle that made Finn gag. Dead. He knew instinctively. Anxiety was making his limbs shake and pain was causing the world to go slightly blurry. If he could imagine hell, this would be it. Ten yards ahead of him he saw a mangled boot covered by flaming pieces of metal. On the bottom, he saw something that made his heart sink down to his stomach.

Before they had left for Iraq, Sam's mom made them lucky horseshoes that she insisted they keep them somewhere on their person to keep them safe. Puck always kept his in his shoe. Glinting on the bottom of the boot was a tiny horseshoe. Finn felt bile rise up his throat as he tried to pick himself up. He collapsed into the sand several times before managing to get close enough to pick some of the rubble off.

Underneath the wreckage laid an unconscious Puck. Blood covered every inch of skin that Finn could see and a giant piece of metal was embedded in his chest. Tears started pouring out Finn's eyes before he could stop them. He struggled to remove more pieces of metal, until he heard a cough.

He looked around and realized that Puck was on top of Sam. Sam's eyes popped open as he groaned with agony.

"Shit, Puck? Finn?" Sam's eyes flashed with panic and terror.

The gunfire grew louder and Finn felt a mounting sense of urgency.

"Sam? Sam, can you move?"

"No. Puck is…oh god. Puck tried to push me out of the way. FUCK! Is he ok? I can't…I can't see." Panic laced with pain filled Sam's voice. Finn tried to lift himself up more.

"Try moving him a little or something. I don't think he hears us."

Sam groaned as he tried to move Puck. Puck's body didn't budge and guilt began to suffocate Sam.

"Finn, he can't die. He was trying to save me. Fuck! PUCK! Puck, wake the fuck up man. C'mon. Remember? Vegas? We're going to open up a bar in Vegas. WAKE UP!"

Fear clenched both of their hearts with an icy fist. Puck wasn't responding to them and there was too much blood.

"I don't think I can move you guys. Not on my own. I hurt my leg and my head…I can barely see straight. And what if we move him and he bleeds out?"

"Can you hear his heart?"

Sam was quiet for a moment, trying to drown out the sounds of gunfire and hear the most important sound of his life. A sluggish beat. Short breaths. Puck was alive.

"Holy shit. He's alive. Barely. But he's alive."

Finn exhaled a shaky breath in relief. His vision was growing spottier by the minute and while the flames that had covered his leg were out, the pain he was experiencing was more intense than anything he could comprehend.

"Did you call for back up?"

"I don't know if they're coming. And the shots…they're getting closer. Sam. We have to try something."

"What about the driver?"

"Dead. His head…it wasn't bent the right way. Man, I'm freaking the fuck out. How do I get you guys out of here?"

The sound of a helicopter overhead filled them with a sense overwhelming, nauseating, panic. Friendly or enemy? Finn tried to pull himself up over the rubble, hoping his body would hide Sam and Puck if they were about to be attacked. He knew it wouldn't work but he couldn't let them die.

Gunfire suddenly grew closer but from the opposite direction. Hope squeezed Finn's chest and he almost smiled. Back up. Maybe they would all make it. His consciousness started slipping as three figures came running towards him. He tried to keep his focus, tried to steel his body, and tried to remember that he needed to protect his brothers.

None of that mattered, though, as the blackness swallowed him.

-treading-

"I would give it back." Sam held the cold piece of metal his fingers and looked over at Finn.

"I would give it all back if he would wake up."

Finn watched Sam, hating that he couldn't ease the guilt that had been eating Sam alive since they had been air lifted to the Army hospital.

"It wasn't your fault."

"No. It wasn't. It was yours." The voice was dull, lifeless and Finn felt every word like it was a stab in his heart. It _was_ his fault. He had joined the Army. He had known they would follow him out of some twisted sense of obligation. He had known they wouldn't let him face the demon alone. And now one of his best friends was in a coma. The other was still learning to walk after his legs had been so broken that they had almost needed to be amputated. Instead he had been _lucky_ and only gotten two knee replacements. To top it off, his back was so scarred that he needed skin grafts.

Finn had been incredibly lucky. Third degree burns and a severe concussion. _A miracle_. Or at least that's what the doctors and his mother kept insisting. But it didn't feel like a miracle. It felt like a curse. His best friends were brutalized and he was fine.

"I'm sorry. I don't know where that came from. I'm just…angry. I close my eyes and see it, over and over again. I don't know what I'll do if he…"

_Dies_. The word hung unspoken in the air. Neither of them acknowledged that Puck could die. Puck was a fighter. Literally. He had taken down every punk who had teased Sam for knowing Na'vi and every asshole who had laughed at Finn for loving to sing. He had held his mom's hand during Chemo and dragged Sam out by the hair when they had figured out he was stripping.

He couldn't die.

"Your doctor says you haven't been doing your exercises."

"What the fuck does it matter? Who cares if I can walk if Puck fucking dies?"

The words bounced harshly off of the hospital walls and Finn held his breath. He was worried. Sam's doctors had told Mrs. Evan's that Sam was growing despondent and withdrawn. Finn wasn't quite sure what it meant but he knew it wasn't good.

"Listen, Sam…your mom is worried. She called me last night and-"

"MIND YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS, OK? GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" Sam's yells caused a wince of pain to cross his face and his eyes watered. Immediately Finn knew how to help.

"You're not fucking dead, Sam. Puck isn't dead. So stop acting like you are. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and stop acting like you're dying. You're not. Do you really think Puck would want you sitting in that bed, peeing into some bag, and acting like a fucking bum? No. So get out of bed, you fucking pussy, and act like you deserve the life Puck was willing to die for." Finn's voice was quiet and menacing. Sam's bloodshot eyes stared at him before he immediately dissolved into tears.

"If he dies, I will never be able to forgive myself. Why did he have to jump in front of me? There was so much blood. God. I'm a fucking mess. I can't…I can't do this. I wish I had died out there."

Finn went over to Sam's bed and sat on the corner. He wasn't sure what to do but he knew Sam needed to cry it out. And as blood brothers, he would take this to the grave.

"Fucking pussies." The words were garbled but clear as coughs erupted from Puck's mouth. Sam hurriedly wiped his face as Finn jumped up to Puck's bed.

"Fuck…ow." Finn grinned as he pushed the button for the nurse. Puck was alive and awake.

"Fucking asshole. You shouldn't pull stunts like that." Sam struggled to get out bed and hold onto his walker. As the nurse rushed in, she shot Sam a warning glance and rushed to Puck's bedside.

"Well Private Puckerman, you gave us quite the scare. About time."

"Sexy Mama, if I had known you were waiting for me, I would have woken up sooner."

The nurse raised her eyebrow and began checking his vitals. Sam and Finn watched on, eyes wide and observant. The nurse helped Sam back into bed and left the room, mumbling something about having her hands full.

"What happened?" Puck's voice was subdued, exhausted, and colorless.

Finn and Sam filled him in as best as they could, struggling to describe their rescue and how close they came to losing him. When they fell silent, Puck's eyes were closed and he his breaths were deep and even. They sat in silence together, each of them waiting to find the right words to say.

"Well, I guess this means you owe me a premium piece of ass, dude. I call dibs on the next twenty women that hit on you." Puck open his eyes and tried to turn but a wave of pain overtook him.

"Shit. Remind me not to move. And you pussies are lucky chicks love scars."

Finn and Sam exchanged grins and laughed heartily.

"Vegas. We're opening a bar in Vegas."

"Anything you want man. Anything."

-treading-

"You assholes are so lucky that my ass didn't die."

Puck grinned as he opened a bottle of scotch and poured three glasses. He slid one down the bar to Finn and the other to Sam.

"I don't want to get sentimental with you but two years ago, we almost died. Today we're sitting pretty in Vegas. We're the three luckiest assholes around. Even if this dump doesn't make it, we're seeing the world. Just like I promised."

They clinked glasses and watched the bar fill up and the couples dancing haphazardly.

_Journey_.

It seemed appropriate.

**I hope you enjoyed this piece. I thought it would give some background on my Puck, Finn, and Sam. **

**Please review! I love hearing from you. **


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